How to Set Up Color Managed Printing in GIMP

Configuring custom color-managed printer drivers in GIMP ensures that your final prints accurately match what you see on your calibrated monitor. This guide provides a straightforward, step-by-step walkthrough for preparing your system ICC profiles, disabling conflicting driver settings, and applying custom printer profiles directly within GIMP's print interface to achieve predictable, professional results.

1. Install Your Custom Printer Profiles

Before opening GIMP, install the custom ICC or ICM profile designed specifically for your printer, ink, and paper combination.

  • Windows: Right-click the .icc or .icm file and select Install Profile, or copy it to C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color.
  • macOS: Place the profile in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles or ~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles.
  • Linux: Place the profile in ~/.local/share/icc/ or /usr/share/color/icc/.

2. Configure GIMP Global Color Management

Set GIMP's internal engine to recognize your printing targets:

  1. Open GIMP and navigate to Edit > Preferences (or GIMP > Preferences on macOS).
  2. In the left panel, select Color Management.
  3. Set Image display mode to Color managed display.
  4. Locate the Color-managed print field and click the dropdown to select your installed custom printer profile.
  5. Set your preferred Rendering intent:
    • Relative Colorimetric: Recommended for photographic work where in-gamut colors remain unchanged while out-of-gamut colors are shifted to the nearest reproducible shade.
    • Perceptual: Scales the entire color gamut of the image to fit the printer’s gamut, preserving visual relationships between colors.
  6. Enable Use black point compensation if using Relative Colorimetric to prevent crushed shadow details.
  7. Click OK to save the preferences.

3. Disable OS Driver Color Management

To prevent "double profiling"—where both GIMP and your operating system apply color corrections simultaneously—you must disable automatic color correction in your printer's native driver:

  1. Open the image you intend to print in GIMP.
  2. Go to File > Print.
  3. Select your printer and click Properties, Preferences, or Printer Features (depending on your operating system).
  4. Locate the color or quality settings panel.
  5. Switch color handling from "Automatic" or "Vendor Color Control" to Off (No Color Management) or Manual.
  6. Set the paper type and print resolution to match the exact conditions used when the custom ICC profile was created.
  7. Click OK to return to the GIMP print dialog.

4. Apply Color Settings in the GIMP Print Dialog

Depending on your platform and whether you are using the standard GTK print dialog or the Gutenprint plugin on Linux:

Standard Print Dialog

  1. In the main Print window, look for the Color Management or Image Settings tab.
  2. Ensure the output profile matches your designated custom printer ICC profile.
  3. Verify that the rendering intent aligns with your configuration from step 2.

Gutenprint Dialog (Linux / Advanced Unix)

  1. Go to File > Print with Gutenprint (if installed).
  2. Select your printer model.
  3. Under the Color or Output settings, set the color correction method to Uncorrected or specify your target ICC profile directly in the profile path field.

5. Print and Verify

Once both the driver-level color management is disabled and GIMP is routed to your custom profile, click Print. Inspect the printed output under standardized lighting (ideally 5000K/D50 illumination) to verify that color accuracy and tonal range match your calibrated display.